


June's 18th Birthday

by equivocate (caveat)



Category: Legend Series - Marie Lu
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-25
Packaged: 2018-02-26 17:45:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2660870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caveat/pseuds/equivocate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>June's 18th birthday, obviously.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. June

Today is my eighteenth birthday. 

I wake up early to visit Metias. I bring Ollie with me, because I do not want to go alone. 

I sit next to the Metias’ crystal headstone. Ollie sniffs it and after he’s satisfied, he lays down next to me. I do not say anything. I don’t know what to say.

“Hi, Metias,” I try. “It’s my birthday.”

My voice sounds normal, nothing like how I feel inside. I stroke Ollie’s soft head and he whines, like he knows what I’m thinking. Metias, I’m one year older now. I’m catching up. 

I do not want to think about the day when I’ll finally catch up with him. 

“Guess how old I am now, Metias?” I say. 

Ollie tucks his head under my elbow and snuggles. I pet him. 

“I’m eighteen, Metias. I’m catching up.” 

I wait for him to answer, but of course he doesn’t. Metias is dead. Dead people can’t talk.   
Then I hear faint static from my earpiece. Someone’s calling. I have a guess who.

“June,” Anden’s voice fills up my ear. He sounds nervous. “Happy birthday.”  
“Thank you.”   
There is a slight pause. Hesitation, I think. “Do you think you’d enjoy a dinner out tonight? With Tess, Pascao, and few other people, of course.”

It might help to make me feel better. I look at Metias’ headstone. Can I leave him?

“Sure,” I say.  
Anden sighs. “Okay. I’ll pick you up at 07.30?”  
“Sure.”

The mic clicks off and I get up on my feet. Ollie perks his ears up in interest. He barks.

“Dinner,” I say to him. “Okay. Dinner.”

I walk back home, taking my time to go through Batalla and the Lake sector. I wonder what he’s doing right now. 

Day. 

Even now, his name makes my heart beat faster. I wonder when it’ll stop doing that. I don’t know whether it’s dread or hope in my chest. 

I take a shower and choose something to wear. I finally decide on a dress (red, sleeveless, and knee length. Probably costs about 17000 Notes). It’s new. I’ve never worn it before. But it’s not too complicated so I would be able to run if I’d have to do so. Even though I know I wouldn’t have any running to do. It’s been quite peaceful here. No one’s jumping into any wars any time soon, that’s for sure. 

Anden picks me up at precisely 0730. 

We arrive at a small but very fancy place somewhere in the Ruby Sector. It’s a rooftop lounge, overlooking the city. Tess and Pascao sit in one corner, away from the small crowd. Pascao watches Tess while she talks to someone on her earpiece. She looks up and grins when she sees me. I smile back. It’s hard not too. Tess is the sweetest thing in the world. 

Pascao shakes my hand and laughs.

“Happy birthday,” he says. He winks. I laugh.   
“Happy birthday, June,” Tess says. She smiles.   
“Thank you,” I reply. I look around. I thought I recognized a few of my classmates from Drake and three Senators in the crowd. “Who else are here?”  
Tess shrugs. “A few Senators. And Anden thought it might be nice to invite a few of your friends from Drake.”

My classmates from Drake do not look as different as I imagined they would look. They smile and congratulate me when they see me. The Senators do too. Here, away from the Senate, they are at least bearable because they don’t need to talk in circles or use polite talk. I find that I don’t mind them.

Anden makes the air enjoyable and light. We share stories about Drake with my, or should we say our, classmates. The Senators do not look like they mind. Anything for the Elector, I guess.

I spend most of my time with Tess and Pascao. Pascao tells us about his boyfriend, who is a soldier, and Tess tells us about Day. 

“I talked to him the other day,” she says. “He says Eden’s doing very well and that his vision’s improving. Eden’s taking engineering classes too. He sounded pretty happy. Eden was all he talked about.”

Well, he’s happy, June, I think. He doesn’t remember you and he’s happy.

I smile for Tess and Pascao. They look sad for me. I can’t help but think that I have the best people in the world as my friends.


	2. Day

It’s Eden’s second week of his vision therapy. It’s been improving gradually and now, he’s able to see things that are two or three inches away from his face. With his new glasses, he can even see the buttons on his shirt. It’s so much better now than it was. I can’t say much about Antartica, but at least I can say that the doctors’ here are goddy good, yeah?

But something feels wrong. Like I’ve forgotten something, which I know I haven’t because I asked Eden about it. 

Tess called earlier. It was strange. She sounded sad. Is that what’s bugging me?

“Day,” she said. “Hi.”  
“Cousin,” I said. “Nice to hear from you.”  
“How’s it going?”   
“Goddy well. Eden’s sight is improving. He’s taking engineering classes too. Clever little kid. He’s going to turn out well.”  
Tess laughed. “I’m glad to hear. Anything going on in your life?”  
“No. Nothing much.”  
Another laugh, this time, it’s softer. “Well, nice to talk to you, Day. I have to go. Bye.”

It was such a short call that I don’t even know what she was calling to say. Maybe she was just checking up. But I think I know it wasn’t. I don’t know what though. It was like she was expecting to hear me say something other than what she was asking. 

Oh goddy it. I’ll think about it later.

After Eden’s done with his therapy, we head to our new favorite café near our apartment. It’s small, well lit, and the air’s filled with aromas of baking bread and coffee. It’s strange to think that we’re able to order anything on the menu now when just a few years ago, food was something so rare and precious. Well, it helps us appreciate it more. 

Eden orders his favorite soup and I order a cup of coffee. The coffee’s good. 

I’m halfway through my coffee when Eden looks at someone behind me. I look to see a girl with dark hair tied up in ponytail walk through the doors. Something about her strikes me as familiar, but I don’t know what. She sits in the table near ours. 

Eden goes back to his soup, but I know he’s curious, though I don’t even know if he can see what she looks like. Buttons on his shirt is kind of different from a person sitting a few meters away. 

When Eden’s done with his soup and I’m done with my coffee, we stand up to leave. I have the sudden urge to talk to the girl. I don’t know why. Have I seen her before somewhere? 

I have been staring for too long. The girl catches me looking and smiles. Her light blue eyes are very pretty, but something strikes me as wrong. What’s wrong with blue eyes? My eyes are blue. 

I try to shake the feeling off me. 

When we’re out of the café, Eden turns to me. His eyes are fixed on mine. I guess while buttons are kind of different from girls, it’s not too different from eyes. He tries to look for something but I don’t think he finds it because he turns away. 

When we arrive at our apartment, Eden goes back to his room and I lounge around on the couch. The sun is setting and we can see the whole thing from our floor. Guess being goddy rich has its perks, yeah? 

Eden comes out of his room a few hours later. He sits on the couch next to me, twiddling the robot toy he got from the Republic. I don’t know why he’s still playing with that one when he’s got new and better ones from here. Sentiment, I guess. 

“Daniel?” he says suddenly.   
“Yeah?”  
“Do you think the girl back there was pretty?” He looks at his robot while he says this.   
“Why? Do you think she was pretty?”   
Eden shrugs. “I don’t know. She reminded me of someone though.” He looks through his lashes at me.   
“Yeah, me too,” I say.   
“Who?” Eden says.   
Now it’s my turn to shrug. “I don’t know.”

After dinner, when he’s back in his room, I can hear him talking to someone. Probably Tess. They’re pretty close now. Later that night, I get another call from her. 

“Two calls in a day,” I say. “I’m flattered, cousin.”  
Tess snorts. I can hear people talking in the background. It sounds like a party. “Don’t be.”  
I try to think of a reason why she’d call me twice in a day. Nothing comes up. “What’s up?”  
She hesitates. “Day, I- Nothing.”  
I remember Eden’s talking earlier. “What did Eden say?”  
Tess says something unintelligible.   
“What?”   
“He didn’t say anything,” Tess says. She sounds busy. Is she at a party?  
“Are you at a party?” I ask.   
A rustle from her side. “Yeah, kind of.”  
I hear someone laugh. I think I’ve heard that laugh before. “Who was that?”  
Tess giggles. “Pascao. I have to go. Talk to you later, yeah?”

Then just before the mic clicks off, I hear someone laugh. It’s definitely feminine while the first one was male. This one makes me think of a pair of striking dark eyes. 

I feel the most intense longing and sadness. 

I shake it off. 

I think I’m going goddy mad.


End file.
